DM Luke's page

Yeah, after making that post I had to go get a drink. I haven't really followed the cannon since 2.0 and have never played a game. I figure this one might actually be my last hurrah for awhile in gaming. And what a hurrah! You guys' willingness to take this at such a slow pace and really write out the characters is what makes the thing so hard to walk away from. But the work world is sooo messed up right now. I've lost my boss, two peers and eight employees. Even though things have to slow down, the remainders are still getting killed right now.

I'm thrilled that Smith may pick this thing up and run with it, and you can bet I'll keep reading along.

I'll give the lightest answer possible to Nebbin's question (in the interest of not spoiling!), but I really treated the AP like the bones of my own homebrew. I wanted most to make Korvosa seem like a real city with overlapping and complicated problems, lots of self-interested factions, etc. So what you've seen up to now has mostly been by-the-book enemies cast in slightly different situations so all you guys who know and have even run this game still got some surprises. There's only a handful of minor encounters that I've skipped. And small augmentations to the enemy side to make the encounters still be challenging for 5.

There has been some genuinely original filler. Most of the maps you've seen are original. Much of the arc that you have essentially finished here is my attempt at creating a prequel for the House on Hook Street, which is supposed to happen 7 years after the arc.

My happiest moments in the thread were the places where I could feel the folks who know the arc suddenly recognizing an encounter that they knew was coming, packaged, presented or sequenced slightly different to preserve some element of surprise.

I'll start sharing thoughts on where this was all headed with Smith via PM. And then, I shall lurk. :)

Hi Guys. I hate to make this post, but I think my workload in real life may have finally crossed a threshold where I can't keep any kind of decent pacing in this game. This has definitely been the finest game I've ever played in, and I am very willing to turn over the reins if there's someone who might stand in and take the story further.

Interested to hear everyone's take - and special apologies to Firinne, who took the time to spin up a new character, only to have the ride cut short. You guys are definitely a great bunch of players and people, and each of you has my heartfelt thanks for putting so much time and effort into these characters and this game.

As Nebbin leads the way, the crackling, energetic sound from above becomes more pronounced. As the trapdoor comes into view, he can see white-blue light of flickering intensity lighting up the room beyond. Peeking his head above the threshold of the floor, Nebbin sees a room with six walls - the whole cupola as seen from outside. The open trap door blocks out half the room, but where he can see perplexes him. There's a podium in the center of the room, with a book that stands open. The walls are a mixture of narrow bookshelves and narrow windows, but the drapes are fixed so that no sunlight gets in - and probably also so no electric light gets out.

The light is radiating from the book in lines that pulse asynchronously, filling the room with a mild strobe effect. The lines are connected by runners, so the entire structure looks like a web of light, reaching out from the podium and book to walls of the room. At their nadir, the lines dim to the point where they almost disappear. Nebbin can't tell if they do. It occurs to him the light may have burned its image into his night vision.

As he tries to shake it off, he notices another detail. A shoe on the floor. As he leans around the trapdoor to open his field of vision, he realizes that a body in robes lies on the floor on the other side of the podium.

The second door off the butler's station is also not locked, and when it's opened it reveals a big dark chamber beyond that seems like it must be the center of the stink in this place. The light spilling around Emi reveals a patch of soiled marble, a line of unlit candelabras to either hand and the vague outlines of a free-standing spiral staircase in the center of the room. In the opposite left corner of the room is an arch, just visible in the dim light that escapes around drawn curtains along the left hand wall. The right hand side of the chamber is entirely obscured in darkness.

Obviously, Nebbin's vigil is interrupted as a door, unseen in the dark, opens up to permit some light on that side of the chamber. The familiar forms of his friends are silhouetted in the doorway.

Peeking around Emi, Firinne's eyes take in the whole scene. Nebbin and Kayleigh stand by the stairs. The entire back of the chamber is a webbed abattoir. Dark masses, oozing black with a thickness like tar hang in the unnaturally thick webbing. They take the shape of humans, of course, or parts of them. There are so many victims, scores at least.

Nothing moves in the room but the soft, random lights coming from the trapdoor above. The stairway up to that room is a tight, single-file affair.

The box defeats the ladies in detail. The lock won't give and the material is providing just enough shielding to keep them from learning anything more about the magic contained. The box needs to come open to get at the goods and figure out what they are.

---

Nebbin's senses don't get any keener as he waits in the darkness for signs of his friends. But the longer he crouches there in the quiet stench, the more confident he becomes that no second ambush awaits him here.

Kayleigh's magically enhanced sweep doesn't note any auras standing out in the darkness. Glancing up, however, she notes a strong aura of illusion emitting through the hole in the ceiling.

Emi finds no hint of a trap, but the chest is locked. Firinne sees auras in conjuration and transmutation overlapping one another.

---

After stepping just a little beyond the arch a couple shapes begin to resolve in the darkness. There are shoulder-tall, unlit candelabras around the perimeter of the room standing like sentinels in the shadows. The shape in the middle is a winding metal staircase, freestanding in the center of the room and leading up to the cupola chamber on top of the mansion. Only a square of the room above is even remotely visible through the open trap door, but the white light is definitely coming from there. It flickers and emits a soft crackle that is just audible as Nebbin reaches the steps themselves. The darkness of the rest of the chamber looms threateningly, and the stench here is approaching overwhelming.

Nothing moves in the room but Nebbin and Kayleigh.

The door swings easily by Nebbin's hand onto a huge, dimly lit noble's suite. There's a table and chairs for private dining, a massive hearth, a fine canopied bed and a dozen shelves, bureaus and chests arranged logically in the room. The only light in the room comes through more windows along the south side of the house, curtains half-drawn.

From the doorway, none of the shadows move or raise suspicion, and after a pause, Nebbin believes the room is unoccupied.

Waiting on the landing as Nebbin pauses in the doorway, Kayleigh can make out the dim, inconstant white light reflected off some construction in the room beyond the arch. Reflected from above. Looking up from where she stands on the landing, she cannot see what the source could be, but she recalls from the outside of the house that the third floor room sits over the center of the structure. The room beyond the arch sits above the entry hall where you just had your fight. It seems to her that the light must be coming down from that third floor room somehow.

---

The door Emileva chooses is unlocked, and when she opens it, she too finds a darkened bedroom. While not as grand as the room Nebbin found elsewhere in the house, the bed, bureau, chest and mantlepiece all speak to the wealth of the occupant, who is not here. When Firinne enters the room behind Emi, her magical sweep picks up soft auras in the chest at the foot of the bed.

Before Emi dribbles the second prisoner's head off the floor a few times, Nebbin gets his question in.

The man winces as he answers, "No, Lord Nybhur commanded they be given... to the Dreamer". His gaze drifts back to the oozing heap of black gore and bugs on the steps. Seeing the building rage and the head drubbing that's coming, he manages, "But they were just gangsters, criminals and shiver-addicts anyway. Nobody's gonna miss.." Whatever else he was going to say is lost to the beat down.

With the last prisoner beaten into unconsciousness, the party turns to the stairs and puts Kayleigh and Nebbin's plan into action. The pair are immediately confronted with the obstacle of the spider-monster's corpse, exploded to cover half of the room but concentrated on the back corner where the steps are.

Picking steps carefully through the gore, they cannot help but recognize half-digested parts of the monster's unfortunate victims, the leavings of its exploded abdomen.

The story above is dark and quiet. Heavy drapes are drawn before the graceful windows of the second floor, admitting only soft diffuse light. Their slowly adjusting eyes reveal a short landing to the steps, with a door to the immediate right and an open arch to the left going into a similarly darkened chamber. As Nebbin gains the higher steps, he notices a flickering white or blue light that's very dim, occasionally casting odd shadows beyond the arch.

The spider-thing came down this wall and left the black streaks of its passing everywhere. From the marks its evident the thing came through the arch.

---

Emi, Firinne and Tassira filter through the door to the kitchen and up the second set of stairs. These are evidently meant for servant access, as they land in a butler's chamber that's lit by open windows on the right as they ascend. A shelf covered in household sundries stands on one wall. There's a chair and a small table in the corner, and two doors leaving the room. Both of the doors are closed and unremarkable.

Emi's hack puts the crazed man down. His life's blood splatters the second prisoner and it's plain from the look on his face that he's frightened. He has no more threatening taunts for Tassira now.

"There's labs in the cellar. Shiver labs. And spiders and nests, of course. It's how we make shiver, right? And sleeping cells and prisoner cells. It don't matter now."

"You killed the Dreamer. His voice is quiet."

The man Emi interrogates is processing his ruined motivations in real time. He coughs up answers readily. At first.

"Master Nyhbur is upstairs. Bedrooms. The ritual chamber. The summoning room..."

His eyes flick from Emi's face, back to the corpse of the demon spider.

"Y-you cannot kill the Dreamer! He's died already and is risen again!" He turns wild eyes to his companion, who purposefully looks away from him.

"S-She cannot kill the Dreamer!" he babbles. He starts looking for confirmation in the faces of the other party members. His manic gaze settles on Nebbin, and he repeats it. He struggles against his bonds, half-slips them with appalling ease and tries to twist away from Emi's grip.

Unarmed prisoner #1 provokes an AoO from Emi as he awkwardly attempts to stand.

When you take the stairs, are you taking the ones in the entry hall or the ones in the kitchen?

I had a final hp tally for Firinne of 35. Mirror Image paid off twice.

Peeking in the doorway, Kayleigh is unsurprised to find a kitchen. The larder to this place looks embarrassingly full, like multiple staff or cult members might have just abandoned the task of preparing a large meal. There are four unbutchered chicken carcasses and mounds of vegetable mass to feed the army you just routed.

Kayleigh's sweep doesn't turn up anything magical, but it does reveal a second staircase leading up to the second floor, and a door in the corner that stands open leading to a staircase down to the cellar.

As you come to the moment of decision, up, down or out, the fate of your prisoners comes to its crisis. They don't look repentant to you. They look dazed at the sudden reversal of their fortunes. Not conciliatory.

I honestly cannot think of an instance where any of you have consumed a potion. Please consider any potions you've found to still be in your possession.

Happily, Kayleigh's inspiration pays off. The detect magic spell sends you rifling a few choice pockets and sacks and coming away with three potions of cure light wounds and a handful of coins.

Using makeshift bindings, you secure the two prisoners as best you can, but you have little doubt that if you left them unattended, they could and would slip them or burst them, and flee immediately. They're both dangerous, trained martial artists, and your intuition tells you they don't flee now because of the direct threat of your attention. They're also crazy people trying to process a personal apocalypse, and can't be trusted to keep acting rationally.

Kayleigh pulls back the curtain to reveal a library, filled with chairs and small reading tables. The walls between the windows are lined with shelves that are filled with books. The chairs of the room are all disturbed, no doubt hastily abandoned when the fighting began and whatever was happening here was interrupted. There are many copies of the same thin volume, Whispers of the Dreamer, lying about on tables and chairs.

This room takes up the entirety of this wing of the house. There's a window that looks back out over the lawn, and a second that looks out on the rugged slope and cliff faces of Garrison Hill. The upper floor of the neighboring manor is just visible over a wall.

There's no one in the room, and there are no other doors or stairs.

The manor is quiet as the party gathers its thoughts. The bald, granite fellow in the center of the room frowns down upon your deliberations. Your voices echo in the airy chamber.

It occurs to you that one of the cultists fled up the stairs and is unaccounted for. He could have been one of those seen fleeing, if there's another way down. Or he could still be up there.

Are you heading through the curtain to your left, the door to the right, or through the gore and up the stairs?

And are you letting the surrendered cultists go free?

Yeah, Firinne I rolled better for you than for any of my baddies. No worries on the arcane point spend, and good to have you back!

The blast that Tassira delivers is probably less shocking to the cultist than the sight of the object of his devotion being blown to spider bits. He falls to his knees, shielding his eyes from the glare of lightning and the vision of his cultist world collapsing. The uninjured bully is equally distraught. They share a look of stunned disbelief as they surrender themselves to the party.

The room is filled with your fallen enemies. Gazing through the broken panes of the window, you can see two people running across the lawn, fleeing the manor. Whether they escaped from the basement, where you assume the second wave of attackers came from, or some other part of the house, you have no way of knowing. Whether this organization is broken and they are running off to hide somewhere, or they're headed off to someplace for reinforcements is equally hard to say, but looking at the remains of the bloated spider-thing you cannot help feeling you've accomplished something significant here.

At Kayleigh's touch Emi pulls in a sharp breath and stirs back to consciousness. There's a profound aching in the places where her mortal wounds have re-stitched and the spiders still swarm and bite, but she is alive!

Firinne casts a spell that charges first her hand and then her entire weapon with crackling electricity. The cultist in her face tries to take advantage of her moment of concentration and succeeds in planting a perfect blow right in the face of one of her mirror images, shattering it. The tiefling steps lightly through the disgusting swarm and delivers a mortal strike. The electric fluid flows into the monster, destroying it in an blue and white explosion that sends tiny electric spiders flying everywhere.

I took a chance on Firinne's behalf and let the opponent mook take his swing rather that try to pass the DC 19 defensive casting check. The mook confirmed a critical, but hit one of the remaining mirror copies. I then confirmed a critical on Firinne's behalf, dealing 75 hp of damage to the spider monster and killing it outright.

Tassira is up.

Yep, that's gonna leave a (couple of) mark(s). I'm happy these last two encounters have pushed you guys, but I can't really see this encounter ending in anything but the normal TPK for my side. ;)

I am afraid I'm eventually gonna kill you all trying to keep things challenging, though. You go through the stock encounters like warm-knife-meets-butter, so I gotta throw some curve balls in. Thus (Bard 9) waiting for you in a bookstore, etc.

I'm right in the middle of customizing the capstone encounters of this adventure into something that's sure to kill you all! lol

@Emi: the spiders do not convey cover.

I'm going to go ahead and DMPC Firinne so Tassira can act with full knowledge.

(And my next character is a Blood Rager for the WotR CRPG.)

Tassira is covered by the Good Hope spell. Near-corner to near-corner, I make it exactly 30' between Nebbin and Tassira.

Boosted by the power of Milani singing in her veins, Emi brings her massive blade crashing down on her revolting foe. She buries the blade nearly to its hilts in the thing's thorax, almost severing one of its limbs.

It staggers, and the soundless scream it unleashes leaves a headache between your ears that smolders like fire. Gouts of blood, thick and dark, leak out onto the floor as it shifts its mass away from the pain.

I recorded 64 hp of damage from that blow, and that's without the hasted attack hitting.

Not seeing any way to bring the great monster down in time save Emi from the consequences of her abandon, Firinne tries to provide distraction. She mumbles arcane phrases and produces a defensive illusion that creates duplicates of herself. The coordinated cadre of tieflings spins into the spider's threat range like a dance troupe.

Casting mirror image defensively and stepping to (10,10) on behalf of Firinne. 5 copies are produced. I'm also assuming a willingness to use the last panache point in the pool to riposte any parried monster's attack directed her way (not cultist's).

Tassira blinks out of sight in the face of another of these abusers. Her attacker growls and lashes out blindly. Another of the cultists comes up and flanks the first.

"Spread out!" he says, directing his partner to his right. "Keep that b#%@$ from running. We've got her trapped in this corner somewh..."

The second man catches some notion. A brush of air or the rustle of a robe and lashes out in the correct direction, narrowly missing the mage.

"Heh. Keep dancing girl..." he taunts.

The wounded spider monster springs back, lashing out at both of the targets it sees. It catches Emi in one of its front legs, crushing her with its strength and biting her again before dropping her inert form onto the gore-streaked floor. The carpet of spiders flood over her body as Kayleigh watches in horror.

The swarm deals 3 hp of damage. The smash/grab does 14. The ensuing bite attack does 12 hp, which drops Emi to -5.

A second taloned leg swipes at Firinne and shatters one of her copies to nothing.

Nebbin makes short work of the cultist in the doorway, but fails to hit his next chosen opponent. Nebbin's opponents throw kicks and punches his way, many of which land superficial blows. Nebbin takes another 14 hp from 3 attacks that land. That DR has paid off sooooo much in this and the bookstore fights.

The last of the cultists pursues Firinne but can't land an attack.

Back to the you guys...

I wish that were true. No, I was over-successful lighting fire to a brush pile and burned my legs. Nine days of healing and still the itching/stinging is pretty obnoxious. Especially if I don't keep my feet raised.

But I'm mending. I'm not going to win any sock modeling contests anytime soon, but it's getting better.

Hi guys. I’m on day 2 of being on my back after burning myself pretty badly. I’ll try to get a post in soon, but right now I’m having a hard time concentrating long enough to be productive doing anything.

The hits keep coming…

Ok, Nebbin, I'm interpreting your action as a readied attack on someone coming through that door. As such, you interrupt the cultists' turn.

Kayleigh connects twice with her morning star, making sure to award each of her opponent's swings with a parry made of iron spikes.

Emi takes a swipe at the first taloned leg to come within reach. She connects, splitting the hard shell of the leg and sending a spray of little spiders into the air. Their little bodies are everywhere, biting and dying. Her second attack does not hit.

Firinne is overcome by the flood of insects. She backpeddles from the horror and retches, coughing up a spider that somehow ended up in her mouth.

After an unfortunate fort save (nat 1), Firinne is nauseated for the turn. She steps to (11,9) to seek momentary cover behind the statue. At least I managed to pass the poison save :/

The empowered missiles streak across the room and smash into the spider, but don't distract it from the nearer prey. It focuses its ire on Emileva, attacking with its front legs in an attempt to bring the woman close enough to bite. One of the legs hooks her behind the knee, raking her down the side and she gets bit on the back of her shoulder. Emi suffers 2 hp from the swarm, 16 hp from the leg attack, and 20 hp from the bite. That brings her to 24 hp by my reckoning and she needs to save again (DC 11) v Nausea and poison.

Though in his peripheral vision Nebbin can see the the cultists coming in the second door, his focus on the door in front of him pays off. The leading cultist opens the door and is met with Nebbin's blade. His enemy curses in pain as the blade bites, then kicks the door wide and flows straight into a practiced combat routine. The punches land, but Nebbin naturally shakes off much of the damage. Nebbin is hit twice, 3 and 2 hp respectively after DR.

Kayleigh's opponent focuses on the weapon that keeps biting him. He tries to tie up her weapon arm, but fails the attempt. More of his brothers route around Nebbin's roadblock and come through the second front door. These split up, each of them going after one of the spellcasters by the statue.

Firinne's new opponent goes after her blade arm, but misses clumsily. I've rolled 4 nat 1s resolving this turn at this point. Tassira's opponent connects with a painful roundhouse kick, bloodying the mage again. 15 hp of damage from one of his flurry attacks.

Kayleigh, Emi, Firinne & Tassira are up. Nebbin acts between the spider and the cultists now, so you can post or wait on the resolution of all that, as you prefer.

Yeah Smith, that was really odd. Hope everyone fared ok through the storm.

Firinne there is no rush. Kick that thing's butt.

@Nebbin, For clarity do you end up standing in front of the open door so these guys can't rush by without overrunning you, or stepping aside to allow them to enter the room (move through allies, provoke AoOs)?

Pending actions for Emi and Firinne (round 1) and Tassira (round 2). I'll DMPC Firinne as necessary until Losonti feels better again.

I hate to hear that Firinne. My son and I felt bad for a couple of days but never tested positive when my wife had it. Hard to know what's a 'mild' non-positive case (if such a thing exists), from psychosomatic responses (which I know I'm capable of), from other crap you might catch when traveling or during a flu season.

Fingers crossed for a good result!

Kayleigh is also in a square that the monster threatens - not sure why I didn't call that out in my prior post. I'm going to drop a grey shade to represent the extent of the spider swarm around the monster, and will highlight (in orange tint) the threatened squares since it's novel to this fight. Let me know if you want those highlights to remain, or if they're making the map too hard to read.

Tassira's magic floods through your bodies, slowing down the world, clarifying your thoughts and surging adrenaline into tired muscles.

The spider pulls its bulk forward, dragging its victim off the stairs with its abdomen and leaving streaks of smoking blood behind it. It strikes out with its huge arms, trying to hook a new victim. Firinne narrowly sidesteps one of the legs while the other makes an ineffective lunge at Emi.

A voice burns in your brains like acid. It's not audible. It's empathic, so it has no true pitch or tone. It's the voice that drives your sub conscience, on nights when your dreams are worst. A familiar evil. Intimate, even. There's a sudden fear that comes with it, a feeling of inevitable doom. That no choices you make can avoid the onset of the coming nightmare. It comes with a panicky and illogical need to wake up.

"Dance for me, little sweets. You have nowhere to run."

Nebbin's actions dictate what happens at the front door you all came in. Nebbin, roll an opposed strength check to hold the door, or go ahead and declare a different action for the round. Some of the cultist's will act on the door being forced from their side. But also...

The 'other' front door suddenly bursts open and three cultists come pouring into the room. Seeing the manifestation of their worship, they cry out, phrases in some base language that mean nothing to you. It's hard to tell terror from adoration in these people. They've lost their minds.

Firinne, Emileva & Kayleigh suffer the effects of a swarm in their squares: Fort Save DC 11 to avoid becoming nauseated. 6 hp damage to Firinne, 1 hp to Emi, 5 hp to Kayleigh. Also, each of you must make a DC 11 Fort save vs poison.

The rest of the party is up...

Tactical notes on this encounter as you consider your actions. This monster is huge(long) and threatens 10' of space (Firinne and Emileva are in melee range for the creature as it comes down the wall). It is also surrounded by a swarm of spiders that will affect anyone within 5' of the monster. In its current form, the swarm is not separately targetable from the wider abomination.

Well, that and the second front door...

Nebbin runs over and puts his shoulder to the door as it begins to swing open. He gets a brief glance through the broken pane to see a small crowd of cultists outside. For so many to have arrived so fast, it has to be they've come from the basement steps Emi noticed as she came in. You've found the spiders alright. All of them, or at least it feels that way.

As if to confirm Emi's words as she takes her shot at the first torso she sees, the cultist trapped in the web shrieks once in terror, and then is covered by a wave of black spiders that cascade down the wall, through the strands of Tassira's magical web and down the steps. But it's not the spiders that run over his body that have the man transfixed with fear. It's the thing that comes after.

It looks like the biggest black spider you've ever seen, covered entirely in caked black gore that it leaves in streaks behind it as it moves. The segments of its legs are long as a man and they end in a great horn spike. At least some of them do. Its form is inconsistent - worn. It has cracks and holes in its carapace and tiny members of the spider swarm fill it, flow out of it, and surround it in every direction.

The thing's own abdomen is a glutinous, shifting mass that glows with an unhealthy pink. It settles on the writhing victim, muffling his screams as it smothers him. Its pink center reacts with a flash as the cultist is consumed.

Whoo! Those init rolls stink!

Tassira has the honor of kicking off round 1. If there are any other effects in place I've missed, please let me know. I'll add Tassira's Mage Armor on the next update.

Emi's attack is considered the only action in the surprise round, so we're starting with a full round.

Hey guys. Obviously the next thing is a big fight. The post is about 70% done but I have some map edits/setup rolls to get done still, and I can't finish right away. We've had a couple minor household emergencies (since the weekend), and we're moving our kid to the dorms today. I might get the post/map up tonight, or it might slip until tomorrow.

Hopefully it'll be worth the wait!

Sorry, I was a little over-aggressive taking the map down. It's back up now.

The doors are 100% intact. The only thing broken about the room is the window, and though the windows are tall and let in alot of light, they are too skinny to afford passage. Better not let the Korvosan fire marshal see this place!

Yes, the windows could make decent firing loops. They start about knee-high and extend up the wall. Others of their kind are higher still and let shafts of light down to focus on the statue in the center of the room. The ceiling is high and the stairs long and steep.

My apologies...

The trapped cultist is the opposite of helpful. He struggles in frustration and will certainly escape his bindings at any moment. His eyes dart constantly between the furious women and the stairs, like he's expecting salvation to come from the reeking darkness above.

The windows in the front are suddenly darkened by the shadows of people outside. Through the missing pieces of the pane Kayleigh broke, it's clear more cultists are gathering to rush the front doors. There are several, maybe as many as you've already fought, and they got here quickly.

A feeling of cold dread settles on your shoulders as the shadows of the room suddenly seem to lengthen. The sweet stench of decay assaults your senses, dragging your eyes from the mounting threat outside, back to the stairway and the dark landing above. Lines of black gore begin to run down the wall. It drops in chunks on the stairs and into the magical webbing, wet and reeking. Something terrible is coming from above, and you have only moments to prepare.

The look on the trapped cultist's face is stuck someplace between exultation and fear.

The party has a round to prepare for what's coming...

I think the most graceful retcon is to change Tassira's action to a readied round 9 action that triggers on their flight. It's immaterial, as this combat is over...

Nebbin stills the last fighting cultist with a two handed swing that opens him up. He twists, mid-vault and comes down in the heap of bodies.

As the fleeing cultists reach the stairs, Tassira's conjuration unfolds, draping the stairway, bannister to wall with sticky threads. The pugilist is caught in the air by the spell and is left suspended there, struggling against the fibers. The cultist with the sickles leaps ahead of the webbing and gains the top of the stairs. He disappears from sight.

An instant of calm settles over the room, but there are voices outside and there's yelling upstairs. There's also the drapes where all these dead folk came from, and the door the girl came out of. And the cultist trapped and struggling in the web. He's in the sticky center of the thing. Anyone trying to approach him with a melee weapon's gonna need to get in there with him.

@Nebbin, yes I think you're correct and I should have taken away both the iterative and hastened attacks from last round too. c'est la vie.

Also, you have to keep saving each round against that poison and it takes two saves to halt it, so please go ahead and dump a couple of Fort saves in your next post to account for this round (9) and your next.

The spider monster never sees the strike that ends its obscene existence. Emileva's heavy blow bites deep into its back, shearing away corrupt flesh and snapping bones. Its dying screech is too much like that of a young girl to bring any satisfaction, though.

Nebbin scores a wounding blow on his target as he's boosted from behind by Kayleigh's healing. The wound near his neck stitches back together, though the filth in his veins continues to burn. Watching his enemy's face as he sees the spider horror die next to him, Nebbin recognizes the resolution to die fighting.

The enemy counters with a high speed flurry of sequenced attacks that ends in a stomp kick that lands as designed. Nat 20, confirmed as a critical deals 12 hp bludgeoning damage to Nebbin after DR.

Firinne lands a parting, chilling blow before stepping over to get flanking cover from the statue. Her opponents use the moment of disengagement to bolt for the stairs.

Tassira has not taken a round 9 action. My DMPC action for her would be to continue to shelter in invisibility, except both these fleeing mooks speed right by her. Opportunity for an action should Tassira choose...

... and everyone can post Round 10 actions.

Emi's strikes pierce the monster's carapace and cause it start leaking its own viscous grey blood onto the already treacherous marble floor.

Nebbin, the poison does 2 pts CON damage, and you need to save each round until you save twice. Also, you are staggered, meaning you lose the iterative attack from your last post (which missed anyway).

Nebbin tries to focus as the spider's poison burns through his veins, but his hands feel too big. He experiences an odd and growing detachment as he watches his sword hew down the cultist in front of him.

Kayleigh's able to get her morningstar into action. She hits the monster for all she's worth and is rewarded to see she too can pierce its armor, if only just.

Firenne's blade punches through the monster, adding to its agony and rage. Patterns of frost spread from the wounds causing its carapace to crack and flake in places. Yes, two of those attacks hit.

In the back of the room, Tassira slowly starts to come back to herself. As she does, she becomes increasingly aware of the odor wafting down those steps she's standing next to. The big airy foyer smells bad but she barely noticed when she came charging in. Something upstairs reeks.

Back in the fight, one of the battered cultists picks flight. He limp-runs out the front door and is lost to view.

One of the remaining cultists tries another placed-touch attack on a hasted-staggered Nebbin, but can't manage to land it with the giant sword in his way.

The others close in on Firinne as she focuses on the spider monstrosity. The martial artist lands a numbing blow that threatens her grip on her blade. Stunning Fist attack lands. 4 hp damage and Firinne must Fort Save DC 15.

The last sickle-wielder also attacks the tiefling.

"He was not our leader," he sneers, with a glance at the smoking ruin that was the bald cultist. "It wouldn't matter if it was. You'll end up in the belly of the Dreamer, little devil. In the end he'll take your flesh just as he'll take us all!"

He manages to cut her with one of the sickles, a slight wound that she barely notices. 2 hp slashing.

The spider monster stays focused on her chosen meal, but the attacks on her flanks distract her enough to keep her from landing anything on Nebbin.

Back to the top of the party's initiative.

Oblivious to Firinne's presence, the ettercap leaps into combat and lands on Nebbin's broad back. Before he can shake it off, the monster bites him on the left trapezius, sending fingers of fire down his shoulder and up his neck. 5 hp of damage after DR and another DC 17 Fort save v Poison.

I'm going to retcon some of Nebbin's targeting since he can't take that step he wanted. The ettercap filled it with the last part of its turn (after Firinne declined the AoO).

Emi sends the gardener back to the floor in pieces. Down for good. Her live opponent parries away her followup though.

Nebbin turns his blade on this new monster standing between him and Tassira. His first blow is solid, severing a claw and biting into the creature's side, but like a tick, the thing doesn't die easy. His second furious swing cleaves the disgusting monster into two. The blood he sprays the room with is black and thin like dirty water.

Tassira blinks out of sight and artfully sidesteps out of the pummel zone. She makes good her escape into the back of the room.

Arcs of electricity explode from the bald cultist's eyes and mouth as he dies. Firinne's demand for surrender falls on ears deafened by rage, as the remaining cultists take their cue from the spider monster.

One of the remaining cultists steps over the carcass of the ettercap to join the fray. He delivers a bruising blow to the underside of Nebbin's arm, threatening to numb it. Stunning Blow attack hits Nebbin for 5 hp. DC 15 Fortitude save. Behind him, Emi's opponent slips into the combat and hits Nebbin twice more with his sickles. Two attacks hit, with sneak attack and after DR the total is 8 more hp to Nebbin.

Having tasted the big man's blood, the spider monster seems to want more. It strikes him with both of its malformed 'arms', drawing blood each time, but fails to bring its poisonous bite to bear again. 11 more hp of damage to Nebbin from two gore attacks.

The beatdown that Tassira just endured comes for Firinne, but finds the tiefling's defenses a bit harder to penetrate. Though the two fighters coordinate their attacks and an armed cultist adds his attacks to her flank, she comes away untouched. 3 spent panache points results is three parried attacks from the monks (stunning fist, flurry of blows). Both sickle attacks from number 5 missed. I just rolled 1,2,3,4 in four rolls. Not sure I've seen that before.

Yep. Spiders poop. Case closed.

Do spiders have b~@~ h#~+s?

EDIT: Really? the censor doesn't like anal orifice? I meant it in the anatomical sense. Jeez

Thanks guys.

...Florida and these other southern states really scare me.

You and me both, buddy. We moved out to the boonie boonies. Folks who live in the boonies, when they hear where we live, the first thing out of their mouths is "damn, you're out in the boonies". It's gorgeous country and I love it, but the locals are um... not the mask-wearing, vaccine-taking types. I should not have let my guard down at all. We went for coffee and some light shopping on our anniversary recently and probably caught it then. Too much confidence in the vaccine and the better numbers.

My wife is the only one really still sick. She's on day 5 of low-grade fever with coughing and all that. The first night after she knew, she was scared (and frankly so was I). Now she just feels sick like she has a cold. We're fortunate enough to have family to call on who are close enough to come down and get us a couple weeks of groceries and leave them on the porch, so we'll be alright.

But yeah, I love alot of things about where I live. The locals and their upside-down political/social views ain't one of them.

Tassira, I have you at 5 hp currently.

And who knew none of you are Lawful? I'm gonna just put this chaos hammer right here back in my toolbox.

On a less positive note, my family has apparently failed our Will saves vs COVID, and have mild break-through cases. My son and I will get tests back today. My wife is already confirmed and has the worst of our symptoms.

This thing ain't over folks. Wear your masks, vaccinated or no. Just my 2 cents from the sick ward. :(

@Kayleigh - ayup!

Emileva's blade slices effortlessly through the mirror copy of her opponent and it winks out of existence. The actual opponent remains engaged with Emi.

Seeing one of the cultists lower his defenses to cast a spell, Nebbin casually runs his blade through robes and man. The spell dies on his trembling lips as he slides off the weapon to the ground. Kayleigh taps him on the head for good measure, making sure he's good and dead. Wheeling around, Nebbin lays low the unwise cultist who un-surrendered. That guy will not be getting up again to threaten anyone. The barbarian vomits in raging triumph as his enemies pile up at his feet.

Kayleigh connects with her morningstar, then pushes more healing energy into the room.

Tassira's lightning attack flashes out and strikes the bald man. He grits his teeth in pain but doesn't appear to have been blinded by the attack.

Firinne lands her first blow and gravely re-wounds her opponent, but still he stands. She vanishes in his face and steps around him.

#6 has to be one conflicted individual at this point. The party's taken him to death's door and back again twice now. He's riding the cosmic yo-yo.

Tassira finds herself hemmed in by three of the unarmed combatants. They coordinate their attacks, raining punches and kicks at the lightning-source in the corner.

Tassira endures 3 flurry of blows attacks (6 rolls). At AC 11, 5 of the 6 attacks hit, dealing a total of 34 points of damage. I couldn't find an allusion to mage armor, but if I missed it and Tassira has it active, the last of the 5 would not hit and she would have 6 hp less overall damage done.

Not realizing the imminent threat that Firinne presents to it, the ettercap charges into the melee. Provoking an AoO from Firinne. I'll pause here on the rest of its action and let Firinne take that now if she wants, realizing it will dismiss her active Vanish spell...

The giant spider monstrosity that used to be a scared girl charges in to fight the biggest piece of meat it sees. Nebbin suffers a bite from the creature that makes his head swim a little more.

Confirmed critical on Nebbin. 11 hp of damage after DR and Nebbin must make a DC 17 Fort Save vs Poison.

The chanter in the back brings another enchantment down on the party's heads. This time there is a multi-colored explosion in the corner of the room, which unleashes painful energy of pure chaos on the folks there.

DC 19 Will save v Spell for Emi, Nebbin & Kayleigh. If passed, the damage is halved.

Nebbin: 10 hp
Kayleigh: 10 hp
Emi: 10 hp

So I need a pile of saves and a decision/roll on Firinne's AoO. You guys can post your actions if you like, or wait on my reaction to that decision. Only the second half of the ettercap's turn is left to do.

Thanks Kayleigh! Effects sidebar updated.

I'd delayed Tassira's initiative a round ago or so to last, so Emi's correct about whether or not it was in play for these actions (it was not). To preserve Firinne's action, I just delayed her until after Tassira - hopefully that's a good adjustment.

One of Emi's retreating swipes catches her target off balance and nearly finishes the cultist off. Nebbin drives furiously towards Kayleigh's side. The cultist who vanished isn't there to oppose him so he hews down the man attacking his girlfriend, cutting him nearly in two. So deep, in fact, that Kayleigh's subsequent over-generous healing won't pull him back from Pharasma's grasp.

Kayleigh pulls the blessing of Milani down upon friends and (a few) foes alike. Her attacking spiritual weapon misses its target and then fades out of existence. Her guarding weapon hovers dutifully between herself and the man Nebbin cut down.

Tassira's magic seeps into her allies, sparking them into overdrive. Firinne's first attack impales the sickle wielder. He barks at the pain and uses one weapon to drive the blade away. A tough opponent. Firinne's unnaturally quick second attack takes him under the chin, sending a gout of blood out over the melee to spray the crowd. He drops to the ground, frantically clawing at his throat in an effort to stop the bleeding. 11 is down, but it takes all your attacks to get him there.

At the door behind Nebbin and Tassira, two of their pursuers enter the fray. The first through the door ignores Tassira and goes for Nebbin's broad back. The punch only grazes Nebbin and he shrugs it off. I'm ruling the partial wall makes (8,3) a non-threatened square for Tassira, so she doesn't get an AoO, but by the same token mook #12 cannot attack her.

The cultist who surprised Emi from behind whispers some enchantment and a carbon copy of herself blinks into existence. The twin cultists try parrying away Emi's blade with one weapon and striking with the other, but Emi calmly steps by the real and illusory blades without harm.

The cultist twice struck by Emi (#3) duplicates the copycat illusion and also gains a gravely wounded double. He then provokes an attack from Kayleigh to cast a spell that heals himself.

The cultist that vanished reappears on Nebbin's flank. Finding himself healed by Kayleigh's blessing, the cultist who surrendered ducks back into combat to help put Nebbin at a disadvantage. One of the sickles catches Nebbin off-balance, slicing his leg. 8 hp damage after DR.

The guard who Tassira hit with lightning lance and Kayleigh healed battles through the blinding glitterdust to strike out at Firinne, but she sees the attack coming a mile away and easily turns it away and strikes back hard. Panache that was gained is spent. Riposte attack is another confirmed critical. Somehow the battered opponent still stands.

At the back of the room, the affected cultists complete their transformations. The young man has changed into an ettercap. It clacks and chitters, and shakes its head like it's trying to clear it. The young woman has changed into something bigger. The nightmare from the curio shop that became half-spider. This is what she's become, and her exultant scream changes into a chattering screech as she fixes her multiple eyes on the group and picks her prey.

The bald man moves along the back of the combat, chanting out the words of a dark prayer as he goes. When he stops, a greenish black haze begins seeping from your skin and clothes, draining away you health and energy, and leaving behind a nauseating sheen of cold sweat. Everyone in the party must make a DC 19 Will save v spell or suffer the effects below (save for 1/2 damage and no sickened state):

Nebbin: 12 hp and sickened for 2 rounds
Kayleigh: 14 hp and sickened for 4 rounds
Tassira: 23 hp and sickened for 4 rounds
Emileva: 16 hp and sickened for 3 rounds
Firinne: 21 hp and sickened for 4 rounds

The party is up. Kayleigh is due an AoO. Everyone owes a Will save.

I would appreciate a volunteer to guest-post Tassira until Dragoncat's return.

@Nebbin - Yes, 4 is the coward who doesn't really want to die.

@Firinne - I resolved those saves as Will (for Glitterdust). I think they're supposed to be.

@Emileva - the new enemy is the one who came down the steps and went invisible. Not your original studied target.

Emi strikes out at the clutsy cultist who spent her invisibility-aided ambush on Kayleigh's buckler. Emi feels a presence behind her as she moves, but she's already committed to her attack. She lands a piercing blow and in reply finds herself suddenly surrounded by sickle wielding foes. Their spider-formed weapons flash out, too many and too fast to parry away.

Three separate hits land, benefiting from flanking and sneak attack damage. The numbers are 14, 13 & 6 = 33 hp total.

Kayleigh falls back to Emi's flank as one of her spiritual weapons finds its mark. Nevertheless, her opponent finishes an enchantment and disappears right before Kayleigh's eyes. The other weapon catches empty air and waves about sadly, waiting for someone to hit.

The one remaining combatant focused on Kayleigh strikes out with a heavy blow that the cleric is just able to parry away with her buckler.

Nebbin's fury is getting the better of him as he swings the big blade about wildly. He's only just able to twist away as Tassira suddenly reveals invisible self in the room's corner. Her Lightning Lance twists out to fry one of the men focused on Firinne. 14 hp damage to guard 6. He's left blinded and smoking.

Firinne's spell explodes with much glitter but little effect. No new enemies are revealed in the spell's radius, and all the opponents in the room seem unfazed by the blinding effect. The attacker who Tassira shocked misses when he attacks Firinne. The tiefling's second opponent completes a spell that makes his own sickles flash with a red aura.

Behind the fray, the bald cultist belts out some arcane phrases that sound ominous. The two cultists nearest him immediately begin clawing at their own heads and faces in pain as his enchantment completes.

"YYYyyyYyyy-eeeeeeeeessss!!" the woman screams in ecstasy, as mandibles burst out of her cheeks and her eyes bulge and fill with cloudy purple fluid. Her arms stretch and burst through the seems of her robes as the transformation consumes her twisting form.

DMPC for Tassira

Tassira hustles around the steps and up them, but stops in the open doorway to survey the chaos in the hall before venturing inside. Double-move to (8,3).

Emi's unwise opponent misjudges his attempt to catch her wrist, and instead catches her blade. His fingers are sheared off and sent bouncing off the wall. Emi's reversed grip thrust buries in his chest and drops him at her feet.

Apologies for boggarting your space, Nebbin. I read the posts in initiative order and didn't see until now...

Nebbin squeezes past the unseen Tassira and into the fray. As he does, his suddenly-aware opponent flashes out a kick that surprises the big man by landing in his midesction. Attack of opportunity hits and does 5 hp after DR (for leaving (8,3)). Nebbin brings his blade down heavily on the man but just clips his shoulder before chipping the marble floor.

Firinne follows the big man through, but is unsurprised by the same round-house kick, instead driving her dancing rapier deep into the attacker's thigh. Spinning past Nebbin, she parries away a second attack from the sickle-wielder.

2 panache points spent in successful parries. Riposte hit mook #4.

Kayleigh's weapon sparks to life in the air over the sickle wielder's head, but misses on its first swipe at the man.

The chanting in the room continues, with more voices added to the mix. Another of the cultists blinks out of sight in the crowd as an invisibility enchantment takes effect. The cultist guards redouble their efforts as Nebbin and Firinne begin to balance out the fight.

The cultist nearest the door, wounded as he is by both Firinne and Nebbin, collapses to the floor in surrender.

Another cultist, thus far unnoticed in the melee stands by the open door on the right side of the hall, a kitchen knife clutched in her hand, observing the melee with saucer-wide eyes.

At the drapes across the hall, more men emerge, practically filling the room. At the back of them is a bald man with a black and grey beard. He has a hand on the back of one of the others, and another of the cultists seems to stand by as his right-hand guard. When he sees the girl with the knife he calls out to her.

"Come my child! Your hour of transcendence is nigh upon us!"

The girls crosses the chamber slowly in his direction, and he smiles as he turns back toward the group fighting their way into the manor.

"Jorgen's killers, I presume? And the thieves who stole his copy of the scriptum? I hope you at least had the decency to bring it along with you."

In the scrum, the fight proceeds apace. A cultist blinks into existence right beside Kayleigh, startling her out of her armor. Fortunately for the cleric, her opponent is inept, and misses with her strike. GRRRRR.

She finds that two of her previous assailants have lost interest in her and are more concerned with the lions that just barged in the front door, but one of them stays focused on the cleric and aims another sequence of attacks at her. He lands another blow. 6 more hp of damage to Kayleigh.

Two opponents, one armed and the other not, each aim attacks at Firinne, but their efforts are parried aside.

Two more panache points expended. The party is up.

@Firinne, Yes, the Parry is mechanically tough in this forum. Since it costs you points, I can't automatically assume you would use it. So for instance right now, as you enter this melee, you would probably want to pick and choose which enemy attacks you wanted to try and parry, which you might use the riposte against, etc. At the table, order would matter. Here I'm writing results as a big batch and going back to retcon them all the time won't work. I'm open to suggestions, but I suspect the best path is going to be you describing your approach to the combat each round, and guiding my application of the effects when appropriate. I want to find the sweet-spot between flow and letting your character's abilities shine.

@Tassira and Nebbin, you guys are about 50' off the map to the south, in the road or across it from the gate and interposed by a low wall you need to vault (no check required, but would qualify as difficult terrain) at the beginning of the round.

The three goons at the gate whip around when they hear the crash and the scream. While they fumble with the gate, Tassira and Nebbin vault the little wall and tear across the lawn toward the building entrance. Seeing Nebbin, one of the men at the gate calls out for him to halt. As the big man pounds across the grass he can hear the footsteps of the guards, trying hard to cut him off.

They fail. Tassira, I placed you closer to the steps Emi and Kayleigh used. You had about 10' of movement left with a double-run. Let me know if you want another spot. There are three more guards just off the southern border of the map who will enter next turn.

Emi closes ranks with the cultist - she's quite sure of that now - and puts the bigger blade to use. The enemy smoothly steps into her first attack and neuters it, but her wheeling second blow cuts him deep. His confident, not-gardener expression slips a touch but there's no retreat in him.

Emi, I think your first use of Guidance (first attack) extinguishes the blessing on you. @Kayleigh, I missed if you used it yet. Emi's blow still hits, though.

Kayleigh's prayer takes effect as she tries her best to shield Emi's back.

@Kayleigh, are your actions the spell and the stow of the morning star (move-equivalent), or are you dropping the weapon to draw the wand?

The gardener slams a fist into the inside of Emi's right arm, causing it to go numb. 10 hp of damage and Emi must make a Fortitude save v Stunning Fist (DC 15).

As she thought, Kayleigh quickly finds herself facing three enemies. The ones to either side are similar. Unarmed, robed men with skills in martial arts. Their attacks are coordinated and come flying at her from all directions. She manages to get her shield in the way of a few, but twice their strikes get through her defenses. Two uses of Flurry of Blows for a total of four attacks. Each attacker lands one hit at AC 23. The damage is 11 hp and 10 hp respectively.

The one in the middle fishes out two sickles, wrought in the now familiar form of a spider tarsus. The parade of cultists coming from the room beyond the drape continues as two more come out to join the fray. The hall is filled with mumbled chanting as individual prayers are offered their dark, foreign god. To what end you cannot be certain.

The party is back up in intiative.

Yep sorry x2. I should have been more clear that was where I was posting it.

Also sorry for all the terrible rolling. At least I can promise you it went both ways (except their initiative). You can tell from all the missing I've done so far. I think my red d20 hasn't adjusted to the subtle changes in the magnetic field out here. If it doesn't straighten up and fly right, I'm gonna put it in a mesh bag, tie it to a cypress knee and let it dangle in the river for a while. Die punishments leveled up at the new hacienda.

Emi's opponent twists away from her first stab but gets sliced across his hip as she slips her hand free for a second strike. He seems to take the wound in stride, maintaining his hard grip on her.

Kayleigh's weapon shatters the pane, and the sound of breaking glass echoes through the airy front hall. Her scream carries well past Firinne at the porch, past the house guards at the gate and all the way to Nebbin and Tassira's ears. From the room beyond the hanging drape you can hear the sound of chairs scraping the floor and people's voices stirring in outrage.

The door beside her, the way she and Emi came in opens up again, and the lankier of the two original guards comes in, looking for the person who broke the window. Seeing the combat unfolding he moves in to render aid.

On the stairs, the chanting person switches smoothly through his magic. As Kayleigh is glancing his way he suddenly vanishes from sight.

The man attacking Kayleigh switches from grabbing to martial arts. He aims his strike for her weapon arm, but misses the mark again.

The guard fighting Emi loses his grip on her. Sensing her strength and speed and reading something into her glances at the door, he vaults over her next attack and rolls to the corner of the room before springing back up in a place to bodily block the other door out.

Yes, you guys have probably noticed that I almost always begin combats with surprise rounds, even if no one if surprised. This is an optional modification I read in one of the books (maybe GameMastery Guide?) that takes a little bit of the sting out of the flat-footed nature of the first round. That scenario where the rogue with multiple attacks and improved initiative can lay waste to the battlefield in the first round of combat by getting a full-turn of actions in and sneak attack on everything. We used this modification in my table games and folks seemed to like it.

I read Lookout the same as you all do. Both Kayleigh and Emi get two actions in the surprise round. And given the above, maybe its more useful than you've credited it, Emi. :)

Dark Seeds is the working title of the Cthulhu campaign I'm brewing. It's going to take a while to pull that one together. There's a map of Arkham in there, just not linked from the menu yet, where I was playing around with what could be done with this control.

Turns out you can either have the left menu or the links out to other pages. I like the menu bar too, but I'm not satisfied with the styling options there yet, and don't like the way it fails to scroll with the accompanying image. Still playing with it though...

No opinion on Pringles. If we have them in the house, my son eats them all and then we don't. I have to buy yucky things to have any. Things with raisins and such. :p

On the new website, you guys will probably have noticed that the image-maps (clickable images within images) I use have the left-margin explanation panel in most cases. I can suppress it entirely if I like (like I do here). But usually I want to just figure out how to use it better. On one of these images I can make the clickable area go to another page, like I do on that map of Korvosa that I just linked to, or I can fill the left pane with info, like I've started to do for maps like this one. Here there's the default district text when you haven't selected anything, and then there's text, images or links you can put in the left margin when something's selected.

In some places I've put some flavor text in. In other places there's just the title. On the current battle map, I threw the initiative in the default text and haven't used any image overlays, but the potential is there. I also put a current effects area, and I'll add guidance on Kayleigh and Emi and throw a random remaining duration on there. This might be a more natural place for me to maintain that kind of information rather than reposting it for reference each page.

Seeking your opinions...